Don’t bury the Bengals just yet: With Joe Flacco, there’s a path to win the AFC North

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Bengals are officially back from the dead. Ten days ago, their season was on life support and it looked like things were going to get worse, but then the front office decided to do something crazy: they made a deal for Joe Flacco.

This is the biggest trade of the season in franchise history and the bet is already a winning one.

The 40-year-old quarterback led the Bengals to a stunning 33-31 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night. Flacco somehow managed to throw for 342 yards and three touchdowns despite only participating in a total of five practices before the game. It’s like winning the Indianapolis 500 five days after getting your driver’s license.

Flacco didn’t know all the play calls, he had trouble communicating with Zac Taylor at times, and Ja’Marr Chase still hasn’t really had a chance to practice with his new quarterback, but somehow it all worked out. Chase passed for 161 yards and a touchdown on a night where he caught a franchise-record 16 passes.

After the game, the Bengals’ star wide receiver was asked why he already had so much chemistry with Flacco and the usually chatty Chase had no explanation.

“That’s a good question, I don’t know,” Chase said. The receiver noted that the two guys haven’t really practiced together much because Chase missed some practice time last week due to illness, and this week the Bengals only held walk-in workouts before Thursday’s game.

In this new upside-down world the Bengals occupy, maybe not practicing together helps, but regardless, the two definitely already have a connection. Over the past few days, Flacco has made it clear that his goal will be to get the ball to Chase and Tee Higgins as often as possible and he succeeded on that one. He targeted Chase and Higgins with 33 of his 47 passes. (Higgins caught six passes for 96 yards and a touchdown.)

With the Bengals passing game firing on all cylinders, that opened up other things for the offense. Entering Week 7, the Bengals were averaging just 56.7 yards per game on the ground, which was the worst number in the NFL. With the Steelers living in fear of Flacco’s right arm, this opened things up for Chase Brown, who surpassed 100 rushing yards for only the second time in his career.

The run above went for 37 yards, which is especially notable because the Bengals didn’t have a single run of more than 15 yards in the first six weeks of the season, but then Flacco came along and everything suddenly started working.

As a team, the Bengals totaled 142 yards, which was their highest total since Week 18 of the 2023 season. Brown passed for 108.

The Bengals’ offense was working so well that even their stopping plays were gaining big chunks. The most shocking play of the game came in the fourth quarter when Flacco gained 12 yards after making the decision to keep the ball on a read area.

“We weren’t aligned properly. I don’t know why,” Taylor said. “It was an area read that we would never preserve in a million years. … I was shocked.”

Broken plays tend to happen when you have a quarterback who has only been with the team for nine days. This also happens when the quarterback doesn’t understand everything his coach says.

“I need to do a better job of enunciating, I think my Oklahoma accent got to him a few times, but I thought he did a great job managing the game,” Taylor said.

If this is how the Bengals play while Flacco is still learning the offense (and his coach’s accent), he’ll likely only improve once he gets a few more practices under his belt.

When the Bengals offense works, it’s one of the best in the NFL, and right now, it’s working. The Steelers were 4-1 going into Thursday’s game and if they had won it would have given them a chance to run away with the AFC North, but instead the 3-4 Bengals are back.

Are the Bengals one of the best teams in the NFL? No, but it doesn’t have to be, they just have to be the best team in a bad division and they can certainly achieve that. If you’re wondering how interesting things could get in the AFC North race, just look at the next four weeks for the Bengals and Steelers:

• Bengals: Jets, Bears, goodbye, at Steelers
• Steelers: Packers, Colts, Chargers, Bengals

By the time these two teams meet again in Week 11, first place in the AFC North could be on the line. The Bengals also have the advantage of having the second-simplest remaining roster. Five of their last 10 games will be against teams that currently have zero or one win.

There’s a reason why Mike Tomlin I didn’t like Flacco’s trade and there’s a reason he was angry at Browns general manager Andrew Berry for getting his way: The Browns threw the Bengals a lifeline.

The Bengals’ season was going downhill and it was going fast, but then the Browns came in and saved the day. Tomlin was clearly upset about the trade earlier this week, but in Cincinnati, fans were thanking the Browns for sending them Flacco.

No one in the city of Cincinnati has ever thanked anyone in Cleveland for anything, so you know someone made a mistake when Bengals fans send their thanks to Northeast Ohio.

Bengals kicker Evan McPherson, who made the game-winning field goal from 36 yards out with seven seconds left, perhaps gave the best explanation of why Flacco means so much to the team.

“I love Joe,” McPherson said. “I love his attitude and what he brings to the team. He’s done a really good job connecting with the guys on short notice.”

The AFC North is officially up for grabs and the Bengals could steal it, and it’s all thanks to Joe Flacco — and the Browns for sending him to Cincinnati.